It's a Zoo Around Here

Matt, Olivia and Lila come face to face with a kangaroo

My parents came for a visit recently. The girls took advantage of them every second that they could. They climbed into bed with them every morning, cuddled, sassed back, and typically treated them as if they had seen them every day since the day they were born, instead of just once or twice a year.

Olivia was especially bossy. Her bossy and flippant behavior has started to concern Matt and I. But, that's for a possible later post.

For whatever reason, I don't have any pictures of my parents with the kids. I'll have to have my mother send me some to post. There are, however, a few pictures we took at the Kansas City Zoo (my parents were there, albeit, absent from these pictures). We now have an 18-month or so membership. So, there should be many more zoo pictures in the future:

The girls getting goofy at the zoo

Surrogate mama and baby

"Whatever, folks. Just go away."

Olivia to Sheep: "Now, I'm going to pretend to be your mother and you will be my baby and do everything I say."

Aunt Andrea Recap

Lila at Festa da Crianca (Children's Festival) in Cascais on Sunday. This was taken moments before I "lost" her. Every parent's worst nightmare. There were, oh, I don't know, 1,000 people down at the festival and as we were crossing into another tent, I thought she was next to me or with my sister. Apparently not! Try finding your child when your grasp of the local language is barely beginner level. Can we say, "PANIC?!" Long story short, after 15-mins (all the while I was thinking I would never see her again), my friend, Amanda, tracked her down. Someone had noticed her down at the BEACH wandering around!! She had told my sister she wanted to go to the beach. I guess she was serious!

Olivia and her friend, Katie, at the festival.

Andrea had always wanted to go to a Cirque du Soleil show. It just so happens that a show was taking place in Lisbon. So, for her college graduation present, I brought her and then took her out to dinner (see picture above of her enjoying fresh coconut water after the show).

Andrea and I showing off our Cirque tickets. No pictures allowed in the show, unfortunately. Too bad because it was fabulous!

Lila playing with my hair while waiting for our lunch to arrive in Lisbon. This is one of my great life pleasures and she nearly put me to sleep!

Lila showing off her beautiful eyes!

Andrea and her nieces at the beach (notice Olivia's temporary tattoos on her belly. She will not let us take them off!).

Mommy and Lila catch some rays

Andrea boarded the plane this morning and is off to take her nursing boards! She studied hard each and every day she was here. We know she'll do well and can't wait to hear the news that she passed!

Little Miss Disrespectful

Four-year-old's are known for being honest, right? They are entitled to their own opinions and we encourage children to speak their mind, and try to teach them to do it with tact and respect.

Olivia does not, apparently, the have tact and respect part down quite yet. This is how part of my parents visit went:

Olivia: "Grandma, you know, I like my other grandmother, Grandma Patty, better than you."

Grams: Gasp and cry.

Natalie: "Olivia, apologize to your grandmother. She loves you just as much as Grandma Patty and that wasn't a very nice thing to say. That made her heart hurt. She's sad now."

Olivia: "I'm sorry, Grams. I love you."

Next Day:

Grams: "Olivia, do you know that Gramps and I are leaving tomorrow?"

Olivia: "Yeah, but I don't care because I like my other grandma better than you."

Matt and I, obviously, have our work cut out for us!

Auntie

Baby sister and I at the beach

My baby sister (recent graduation picture above) arrived late this weekend and my girls have been eating her up! Seriously, they have ditched me for her (except at bedtime when they cannot resist putting me through bedtime angst)! Lila cracks me up each and every time she yells, "Auntie!"

Mostly, we've been relaxing. The weather has been fabulous and we hope to spend a little time on the beach this afternoon. I've introduced her to the local food and wine (YUM).

Yesterday, we went to Obidos (walled-in city an hour away). We shopped around for local handmade goods and had lunch. Here are a few pictures:

Dad and Andrea

Beautiful flowers spilling down nearly every wall of the city

Grammy and Gramp's Visit

My parents are here! The timing is perfect because Matt is away for another week. I have been able to sleep in for two days in a row (this a real treat)! My father has brought the girls to the beach a few times already. I really slack on getting the girls to the beach. It's 200 yards from our house and I think any other family would spend most of their free time there. I, on the other hand, take it for granted and do feel really guilty about it.

Anyway, here are two photos (above and below) of each grandparent reading one grandchild a book (Pinkalicious and Purplelicious):


Aunt Andrea (my baby sister) arrives tomorrow morning and we plan on doing girlie things like pedicures and hair styling. The visit to Portugal is my sister's college graduation present. She just graduated from nursing school (congrats, baby sister!)! Hopefully, our kids won't infest her with a toddler nasty virus as she has her nursing board exams soon after the trip!

Random Lisbon Pictures

Tram

Elevador de Santa Justa

Castle of Sao Jorge

Gypsy (Beggar)

Random Statue (no idea who-but I like it)

Just Pictures

We said a sad goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa McQuilton and Aunt Maureen yesterday. Olivia woke up, discovered they were gone, and cried for a long time (it was heartbreaking).

Here are a few more "people" pictures from their trip (the above picture is of Uncle Mick, Grandma and her girls):

Lila generously loaned Anna Bear to Grandpa to comfort him while he slept

Uncle Mick and Lila

The Siblings with their father in Lisbon

Drowning in Wine

Bacalhoa Vineyards

Yesterday, my SIL, FIL and I drove to the Setubal Peninsula to visit wineries and indulge in the local gastronomy. While we waited in between tours, we stopped by a local restaurant for a local dish of grilled "black" pork, homemade french fries, salad and wine (I thoroughly appreciate meals in which I know everything being served on my table is not only locally produced, but often organic and/or raised in the wild. This was one such meal). My SIL and I really liked the house red wine. We liked it so much so, I asked the owner where I could buy it, thinking it must be from the winery across the street. He told me that it was from a private winery located 2 kilometers down the road. He then proceeded to give me directions.

Driving down the dirt road to the winery just a few minutes later, we didn't know what to expect. Turning onto a somewhat sketchy, narrow, bumpy dirt road up to California Winery, I was even more skeptical. I parked right in front of the vineyards. The store looked like a barn, minus the cows (and smell). However, I took one look at the prices and nearly broke out into a song and dance. I purchased a 20L box of red table wine (that's 20 bottles of wine) for approximately 24 US dollars (boxed wine is more popular here and, actually, really good in comparison to the often poor quality boxed wines in the US).


I was a little nervous when we sampled some of the wine with dinner tonight. There was a chance it wouldn't taste the same as the wine we had with lunch yesterday. Fortunately, it was just as good! And, of course, I'm thrilled that I was able to get such a great deal (We estimate this amount and quality of wine in the US to be about $9-$12/bottle. We paid approximately$1.20/bottle)! I know I will not find wines deals like this when we get back to the States. I'm only sad that I hadn't stumbled upon something like this sooner! For the next three months, I will be drowning in wine, in the truest sense!


Here are two other pictures of our wine experience at Bacalhoa Vineyards:

Let the Fun Begin

Matt's family is here for the week (his sister is here and his brother will be here at the end of the week). The girls are thrilled!

Here are a few pictures of the first couple of days of their visit.

Lila scarfs down a cream pastry - sure to make a mess of grandpa's shirt

Sharing laughs and art time with grandpa and daddy

Aunt Maureen, Grandma, Lila and Grandpa at Mosteiro dos Jeronimos, Belem

Aunt Maureen and dirty-face Lila Kate

Grandpa's Girls

There were lots of tears this morning as we brought grandpa to the airport. His two weeks here flew by so quickly! The girls, however, have gotten used to grandpa being here when they wake up every morning. He also filled in the void during the evenings because daddy has been working 70 or more hours a week. He rarely comes home in time for dinner, and less and less often is he home when they go to bed at night. So, they certainly loved having grandpa around! He made bedtime fun - bouncing them on his legs and singing songs he sang to me as a young child. "More, More!" and "One more time, grandpa," was shouted nightly.

Lila, always ready to hand out hugs and kisses, doesn't need much bribing to give grandpa a hug and a kiss. Liv isn't really the huggy-kissy type. Last night, however, she didn't need much prodding

On the way to the airport, Olivia whined, sadly curling out her bottom lip, that she didn't want grandpa to leave. I tried to explain to her that he had to go home because grandma really missed him and wanted him back home. I explained that she and grandpa would try to come again in the Spring.

She then went on and cried that she wanted grandma "Ms. Patty" and grandpa "Mickey" to come too and and asked why they haven't come to see her yet. My father said, "You should call them and ask them to come." To which she replied, "Ok, I will." So, grandma and grandpa McQuilton can expect a call soon from one, pouting, three-year-old!

In the mean time, Liv is having a sad day, missing grandpa who just left and daddy, who is back in the US for a wedding. I am doing my best to cheer her up - pictures and home videos usally do the trick. So....that may be how we spend our weekend. Looking at pictures, scrapbooks and watching home videos! Fun times ahead.

Beach Time

Our cousins arrived on Sunday and we've been busy ever since. We're having so much fun (albeit a little crazy). Yesterday, we walked a couple miles to a larger, busier beach (normally we go to the small beach across the street from our house) and enjoyed the sun and sea for a couple of hours. Lila asked a stranger to teach her how to surf, Olivia tried (we made her keep her shirt on, at least) to tan in the buff and cousin Lydia and her son helped build sand castles.

Here's our adventure through pictures:

Visitors and Ballerina Hopeful

I don't have any new pictures to post. Nothing exciting has happened. Well, Lila came down with another cold, it was rainy, we stayed inside a lot and had construction workers at our house, nearly everyday, making loud noises and screwing up my kids naps. Oh, and Matt was gone for a couple of days. But, he's back now and we spent the morning and part of the afternoon at a local fruit and vegetable market.

I'm not sure how much blogging I'll be doing during the next two weeks. Tomorrow morning, my cousin, her son and husband arrive. We are so excited! We were hoping that Matt's parents were going to come too, but, unfortunately, they weren't able to make it. We were really hoping to have everyone here over spring break and they will surely be missed!

Olivia's memory amazes me. A year and a half ago, Olivia and I paid a visit to Colorado and stayed with Lydia for over a week. Olivia, the dog-loving child that she is, fell in love with her dog. She was about 16-months-old at the time of the trip. So, Lydia and I were shocked when Olivia got on the phone the other day and asked Lydia about her dog. She asked if he was sleeping inside or outside and other related questions. How the heck does she remember that dog? Toddlers are amazing creatures!

Olivia is very excited about Lydia's arrival for one reason. Lydia taught ballet for many years. Olivia expects her to put her hair up in ponytails and teach her how to be a ballerina. Oh, and, if she knows gymnastics, that would be good too!

I'm just hoping no one else in our household comes down with a cold and passes it on to our visitors! We have a trip to Spain planned while they are here and hopefully everything goes fairly smoothly (three kids+travel=at least a little bit of chaos!).

On My Own Again

It's 8:00am on Monday morning. My parents left for the airport at 7:00am. Since then, I've swept and mopped the floors, hung sheets out on the line, threw in a load of laundry, sorted laundry for further loads, made myself breakfast, coffee and started a new post. Where are my kids you ask???

Both girls are still sleeping. It's mornings like this, becoming more and more frequent, that I question having a third child. They are both wonderful nappers, and sleepers (Olivia throws a fit before nap and bed - but, once she's down, she's down). They are starting to play well together and entertain each other without me. I'm becoming very very spoiled..in the morning, that is. Then, I'm faced with a reality check when Olivia strips naked and won't get dressed just as we're walking out the door. Or, Lila, teething, shoves her fingers in her mouth to press on sore gums and makes herself puke all over the clean outfit I just put on her. Or Olivia decides she wants different pj's on just as I cover her up and kiss her goodnight (thus begins a battle of wills).

At any rate, Matt is gone...again. He's out to sea with the Navy until Thursday (he left early Sunday morning). He was in Italy most of last week, came home for barely two days and left again. My parents hardly saw him. I'm trying not to get frustrated that this job keeps him away from his family so much. But, it's hard. I'm just bitter because, while I support my husband, I have a hard time supporting the fact that his duty to country comes before his family. I thought I'd be "over" it by now or used to it. I'm not. It's taking time and a 16-month extended deployment didn't help.

So, it was a good thing I had my parents here this past week because Lila and I both had colds. I used Zicam and fought off the sniffles. But, I had two back-to-back sore throats. Thank goodness for throat spray the local pharmacy has here that you can't get in the US (at least I've never seen it. The pharmacists here can diagnose and prescribe medicine for minor illnesses such as strep throat, pink eye, and ear infections). The stuff didn't numb my throat. I'm not sure what it did, but it got rid of the sore throat in less than 24-hours. I'll have to load up on that stuff before we move back to the US!

Aside from giving both my parents our colds, we had a great time (Olivia will be next, I'm sure). My father took Olivia across the street to the beach every day. They made sand castles, searched for shells and watched our dog run around. She's now obsessed with going to the beach. I'll have to take her now more often. I love the beach. I don't, however, like the sand that inevitably finds its way into my house upon return.

Olivia is becoming quite the hoot. She loves to read. She will read to her dolls (or in the case of the above picture, Grandpa) and recite as much of the book as she remembers. If the battery in my camera wasn't dying, I would have got the above scene on video. She was saying, "Mama, do you love me? Yes, sweetheart, I do. Very much."

Olivia has doll stations all around the house. It makes my house look messy. But, if I move a doll, she gets very upset (I think I've previously posted about this). My mother took some great pictures of her dolls lined up in a row, with towels on them (we try to avoid using paper towels in our house, thus we have a a few dozen white bar-type towels that we use instead and Olivia thinks they make great doll blankets) and when she emails them to me, I'll post them.

Well, Lila is now up. She's had her diaper changed and is eating breakfast. A load of laundry has been put in the dryer and I've topped off my coffee. I should end this post and wake up Olivia so I can get her fed and ready to leave the house for Mums and Tots group by 10:00. That'll be a challenge as 10:00 is an hour away.

Visitors, Belem and Pena Palace

My parents are here this week. Enroute to pick them up at the airport, I noticed my throat felt a little scratchy. A half hour later, my head started to ache, throat was worse. Perfect timing. I warned them right away that I, and, possibly, my whole family may be getting sick. The only upside to this is that Matt couldn't get time off from work to help me out unless I was, literally, on my death bed. This job makes him about as accessible as he was when he was deployed to Iraq. Therefore, having my parents here when I'm sick and have no hourly care option, is a perk. However, they came to see Portugal. And while they want to see and play with their grandchildren, they probably don't really want to take care of my kids while I lay in bed sick. And, the last time they both came up to visit, when we lived in Alaska, I went into labor less than 24-hours after their arrival. While their sole purpose of that trip was to take care of my girls and I, that is not their sole purpose of this trip.

So, I sucked it up. Dosed up on Zicam (I truly believe it helps), Sudafed and Motrin, and headed out. Matt was home this weekend and watched the girls while I took my parents to see the Tower of Belem (above) and Pena Palace (below).

Have I mentioned that I love my TomTom GPS? I don't drive anywhere without it. The streets here are poorly and inaccurately marked. Have a favorite restaurant, historic site or shopping center you want to recommend? Send me the GPS components and I'll find it. I was born without the life skill/sense of directional awareness. I can't read a map to save my life. Really, I'm pathetic. Someone my husband works with recently told him that GPS navigators are also accurately named, "Marriage Savers." How true! We no longer fight about wrong turns (taking the long way-according to my husband). Here, we can just go for a ride and when "lost," plug in "home" on our GPS and it'll get us there. If you don't have one, get one. Unless you pride yourself on knowing how to read maps and having a great sense of direction, you'll appreciate these handy tools!

So, you can imagine how upset I was when my GPS wouldn't turn on after we got back in the car to head home from Belem ! I knew how to get home that time. But, how the heck would I drive my parents around Portugal without it? I really began to panic. $550 piece of &%$&!! What would Matt say? Who could fix it on a Saturday afternoon? Oh my gosh! What was I going to do?? My throat was killing me, my body ached and I just wanted to get home and lay down. Now, I had other plans. I had to get it fixed.

After many deep breaths, reassurance from my husband and a quick search on the manufacturer's website, I figured out that it only needed to be reset. I handed it over to Matt, who reset it and all is good. TomTom is okay and we can now hit the back roads of Portugal on many TomTom aided adventures (I'm feeling a little better and hoping my girls continue to stay healthy)...